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Learn how to have conversations that get results

Creating An Innovative Environment, One Conversation At A Time

Today begins the second day of our Fierce Conversation workshop and Train the Trainer in New York City! Despite inches upon inches of snow and freezing temperatures, Fierce is excited to heat the place up and get some creative juices flowing on how to have more authentic conversations so innovation can flow in your workplace.

More and more lately I feel like I’ve been reading about the need for companies to create an environment where innovation can flourish. Just today I read a blog on the Harvard Business Review aptly named, Finding Innovation in the Flattened Organization, the blog speaks to some research done with top executives where 71% of them said that their toughest challenge is not in getting communication flowing vertically, from top to bottom, but horizontally where you are dealing with cross cultural and cross disciplinary teams. On top of that the same executives were asked, “What were the top ten trends that will impact organizational strategy over the next five years?” and not too surprising 92% of those senior executives answered the drive for innovation.

Conversation is the lynch pin of an innovative environment, but not all conversations are created equal. One part of a having a “Fierce Conversation” that transcends cultural boundaries and departmental road blocks is allowing teams to interrogate their realities and then also to begin to interrogate their teammate's realities, this friction is where innovation lives. Yet even out of those senior execs. only 7% thought they were collaborating across those cultural and disciplinary boundaries effectively. Is your company having “Fierce Conversations” where people’s ideas can push the boundaries and broaden the scope of your organization?